Western values need defenders like John McCain

The idea that liberal democracies have a shared mission was once commonplace but that consensus is shrinking fast

After David Ifshin’s wife phoned to say that her husband had died of cancer at the age of 47, John McCain asked his secretary to hold any other calls and sat in his office for an hour speaking about his friend to anyone who’d listen. And then later, delivering the eulogy at Ifshin’s funeral, the senator broke down as he recalled the times they had spent together.

Ifshin had beeen an adviser to Bill Clinton, but earlier in his life he had been more radical. As a student leader he had gone to Hanoi and urged American troops to turn against the Vietnam war. And his broadcast on Radio Hanoi had been played in the prison cell of John McCain.

McCain spent more than five…

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